1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a translucent liquid crystal display device which displays an image by both of a light reflection mode and a light transmission mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in the field of a mobile information terminal such as a cellular phone and a mobile music player, a liquid crystal display device is used for displaying an image and a character. In particular, a translucent liquid crystal display device that displays an image by a light reflection mode and a light transmission mode has high visibility both indoors and outdoors. As the translucent liquid crystal display device, for example, the one disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-303863 is known.
In a conventional liquid crystal display device, as shown in FIG. 1, a frame-like black mask 3 has been provided on a periphery of an image area 1, and an area between the image area 1 and a cabinet of the mobile information terminal has been black.
In recent years, as a color of the cabinet of the mobile information terminal has been being diversified, it has been required that the area between the image area 1 and the mobile information terminal be displayed white to enhance an appearance thereof.
In usual, on the peripheral area between the image area 1 and the black mask 3, a dummy area that always performs white display is provided. In the image area, translucent pixels that have reflection areas and transmission areas are arrayed, where a color image is displayed by the light reflection mode and the light transmission mode. In the dummy area, reflection pixels that have only reflection areas are arrayed, where the white color is displayed by the light reflection mode.
However, structures in the pixels are different between the translucent pixels of the image area and the reflection pixels of the dummy area. In particular, while external light is reflected only on the reflection areas in the reflection pixels, the external light is reflected not only on the reflection areas but also on the transmission areas actually to some extent in the translucent pixels. Therefore, differences occur in reflectance and color tone between the image area and the dummy area, causing a problem that, in the case of performing the reflection display of the white color, a boundary therebetween becomes conspicuous.